Xaxis Syncs Mobile Ads With Broadcast TV

Many viewers
turn to their mobile devices during commercial breaks, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of reach for the advertiser.

Advertisers can now deliver ads to mobile devices -- as
well as tablets and laptops -- that are complementary and simultaneous with ads on broadcast TV, courtesy of Xaxis Sync, a new service from Xaxis, a programmatic media and tech platform.

The Xaxis Sync service, developed in collaboration with Civolution, uses video identification technology to detect and analyze metadata from TV spots running on over 2,000 TV channels
around the world. When a spot runs, the metadata triggers a complementary (potentially identical, if the advertiser wishes) ad on the smartphone, tablet or laptop computer, beginning within two
seconds of the start of the TV ad. The mobile ads can include both mobile Web and in-app inventory.

“Multiscreen is increasingly how global consumers watch television and
it’s become crystal clear to broadcast advertisers that they need to develop a coherent strategy for engaging these viewers," stated Xaxis Global CEO Brian Lesser. "Xaxis Sync meets consumers
where they are, bringing the reach and accuracy of real-time programmatic to second-screen advertising across the most-trafficked apps, mobile properties and Web sites.”

Multiscreen viewing is fast becoming the norm. According to figures from Nielsen, 84% of smartphone and tablet owners say they use their devices while watching TV. Among other things, people use
smartphones or tablets while watching TV to read about shows, share their thoughts on social media, make online purchases, and conduct follow-up research about products and services advertised on
TV.

Recently, the Council for Research Excellence published the results of a study showing that one in five online Americans ages 15-54 (19%) use social-media sites like Facebook and
Twitter while watching prime-time TV on a daily basis. 16% of all prime-time viewing occasions involve social media interaction of some kind, with around half of these (7.3%) relating specifically to
the programming.

It seems that the negative response was largely due to the fact that Ad Age did not explain the execution details very well. That publication made it seem like they were making educated guesses as to who would be watching live TV at the same time as using mobile devices. In contrast, this Mediapost article clarifies that Xaxis is actually leveraging audio fingerprinting technology wherein the mobile device registers the audio of the broadcast commercial and serves an ad accordingly. It's similar to how Shazam works, but auto-initiated and with advertising.